Delt Homicide…

Delt Homicide…
My bestie gave up a long time ago on convincing me I train to hard. I love him to death, and he has come to accept that my plan works for me and what I want to achieve. And I listened to him and backed off the extra leg days. He had a point there. I’ll never admit that to him though. Ever. So not happy with last weeks shoulder work out being too heavy on the lats, especially since I do a lot of lat work on my back day, I stumbled into Dana Linn Baileys delt homicide workout on bodybuilding.com . Always up for the challenge I wrote out a workout plan using all the exercises without supersetting the stuff like she had. Partially because I do have to lift my arms all day at work tomorrow, and partially because planet fitness hates me enough without doing an hour of super sets.

I am absolutely in love with the delt homicide work out. I also warmed up with some Arnold’s just because I love them and finished it up with some under the leg lat/delt raises. I felt absolutely amazing after. Then when I tried to keep my hands on the top of the steering wheel to drive home, I figured out why she calls is delt homicide. There is no way I won’t feel this tomorrow.

As of this morning I am also 4 lbs away from the weight I graduated highschool at!

Drop Sets

Drop sets…

I have a new love. It’s name is drop set. The burn. The glorious burn. Who knew that I could work my body so hard that 25lbs could be hard to move. I mean when you think about it, it makes sense. If I start out at 25lbs it’s super simple no burn. If I start out at 80 and work my way down over 5 sets… It’s amazing. I love them. I think it cut maybe 15 minutes off my leg day because I wasn’t screwing around between sets? It’s nice to mix things up and keep the body guessing.

what have you discovered on your fitness journey that has helped you improve?

Finally Free

Finally Free…

Saw this in the mirror today and kinda teared up. Had a moment of who the heck is this girl and where did she come from. The last 5 years have probably been some of the hardest of my life. To know that 5 years ago that I had to make hard decisions for me and my children and to be strong enough to not go back, and to not wind up in another abusive relationship and to see where I am now and know where I started, and to know that I have won, is so amazing. To have started this journey 5 years ago as this weak scared person that was terrified to sleep in her own home, that would have never stood up for herself, done for herself, into becoming this person who holds her head high and isn’t scared any more… It’s just an amazing feeling. I feel free finally.

Personal bests…

Personal Bests…

One of my favorite things to do on the period of time before I go to bed now is to watch motivational videos on YouTube… Both plain motivation and sports and body building motivation. It’s amazing how much some of those words stand out in your head when you need them the most. That moment when one last rep seems impossible. When you don’t want to do that last 5 minutes of cardio. When you are wondering if you can put any more weight to that bar. When you are scared to fail. You know what? FAIL. It is okay to fail. The only way you can fail is if you try, and if you keep trying and keep failing one day you will succeed. Even if you don’t you have the knowledge that you didn’t stop. Ever. You kept getting back up and when you look at it that way, did you ever really fail?

When I started working with weights last April, I had a friend go with me to show me some things and get me on the right track. One thing he had me doing was a smith machine bench press. To be honest I could barely move the bar. It’s not an exercise I am totally comfortable with doing without someone to help spot me, even with the safety’s, so when I started really focusing my workouts in July, I decided to add a dumbbell bench press to my exercises. I remember the first time I did it, it felt so awkward and unsteady, that I stuck with two 10lb Dumbbells. It was easy, but just didn’t feel like I should up the weight (I’m looking at my workout notes to get the weights right as I write this). The second time I did it a week later, I went up to 15 and 20 lb weights and the 20s were so wobbly and all over the place, but I would steady myself and keep going. A week later I got the 25s up and then the next I got some partial sets up with the 30s failing at 6 and 8 reps. The next few weeks I tried and tried to even lift the 35s up over my head and couldn’t even get them up to where I could start to push them up. Today, after two or three weeks of just trying to get those suckers up, I got a set of 8 AND a full set of 12 in.

The feeling, past total exhaustion of those muscles, was absolutely amazing. To know that I worked my butt off for that moment AND achieved it? Absolutely indescribable. I might have possibly wrote #beastmode in my notes. I can neither confirm not deny that though.

I also recently discovered drop sets. Um wow. Those suckers… They make you work. I’m loving incorporating them into my workouts. I’ve also made a lot of little refining tweaks and am loving those as well. I’m feeling the burn better and I am dialing in my muscle focus too. My instincts are improving and I’m starting to be able to notice when something is off and how to adjust it so the movement works in the correct area.

what are some goals you have set for yourself?

The back pictures left to right is June, early august, and sept 2

t

Transformation Tuesday

Transformation Tuesday…
The changes I have spent the last 8 months working on, haven’t been purely physical. It has been a mental battle too, beyond just the” I want cake you can’t have cake but I want cake you can’t have cake” type. I’ve had to focus really hard on changing my train of thought from a negative one to a positive one. An I CAN do that attitude. Sunday, the more weight I stacked on the bar for my calf extensions, this stupid voice kept trying to creep into my head, if you include the bar, I was moving over double my body weight, saying there is no way you are going to even get your feet off the ground to move it off the rack. Then the other little voice in my head was like yeah well you can shut up now. I really had to stomp down the naysayer in my head and focus. Focus on the fact that I CAN do it and was going to do it. Focus on the right places to hold my tension, and when to breathe.

It’s when you let that little voice, whether it’s yours, or someone else’s, get into your head that you start to self doubt. I believe it was Arnold Schwarzenegger that said (paraphrasing) your mind will quit before your body is ready, and I have found that to be so true. Can you really not do 15 minutes cardio, or do you not want to. Can you physically not lift up one more rep, or are you just tired and want to quit?

Cardio is probably my least favorite thing to do ever. I think after I lifted today I screwed around in the locker room for 10 or 15 minutes avoiding it. My torture device of the day was the elliptical. When I first started working out a year ago, I was doing only cardio (and I remember it was a year ago because I was going trough a break up and i decided to get hot and show him.. Yeah that lasted about 3 weeks before I gave up). I would do about and hour to an hour and a half of cardio 3-4 times a week. I would do 30 on the treadmill, 5 on the elliptical because I was convinced I was dying, 10-20 on the arc trainer half way trying compared to what I do now, and then I would park my butt on that dumb bicycle I hate and suffer for 30 minutes. Yeah 5 minutes on the elliptical. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Looking back could I have done more? Heck yes, but I had convinced myself that I couldn’t. I’ll be honest, today after 15 minutes I wanted to quit, but at 15 I talked myself into 5 more, then at 20 I was like well I’ll quit at 25, 25 came around and mentally this little voice was like if you quit now the only person you are cheating is yourself. So true. I pushed out the last 5 minutes and was able to stop without feeling any regret or like I could have done better. That satisfaction is the absolute best feeling in the world.

In other news. I happened across a boy and “training” his girlfriend at the gym today. I use training loosely… He was in sandals and khakis… And when she picked up 10 pound weights to do curls with he told her to go use the 5 pound ones so she didn’t get “big”. I wouldn’t have paid them ANY attention had they not set up so close to my bench that I couldn’t even use both sides of it for the dumbbell rows I was doing. Then they went over to the cables and did i don’t know what, I did notice them on the smith machine bench pressing and he wouldn’t let her add any weight to the bars. Some people have absolutely no business “helping”.
A few from today
The pink and pink is may and today
The purple and pink was last week and today. Lots of week to week pictures will be coming over the next 11 weeks lol

put

Crap day…

Crap day…
Yesterday was a crap day. Nothing I want to get into on here since it is public and you never know who is reading, but let’s just say it greatly affected my leg day because I let it get into my head. At first I was able to use it to fuel me, and I upped my personal best on standing calf extensions to 270lbs plus the bar, but then it just kept nagging me to the point that I wound up in tears on the leg press when I spilled my drink. That was when I decided that for my own personal safety, because I wasn’t able to keep my focus and tension where I needed it, that it was best to just call it a day. At some point this week, I will be redoing leg day, but I did get in 75% of my workout before I decided that I needed to call it a day.
Then today I was supposed to be hitting back and biceps. Annnnnd I for called into work. However my day off will be moved assuming nothing else crazy happens so I am just shifting my training by a day and not losing a workout.
Work actually ended up really well. We were slammed and because of my own personal drama, I treated myself to two new workout tanks from flag nor fail I strongly recommend if you love a good company run by people that care about a product that you check them out. I want some of their sweat pants so badly, but I really need to finish cutting before I drop money on new pants only for them to fall off me in 2 months.
The benefit of pushing my back and biceps back by a day, is that I had some extra time where I was clearheaded and focused to tweak last weeks workout and make sure more areas are covered in a more efficient manner. I’m feeling good about the tweaks I made, and depending on how I feel after and the next day, I will adjust from there as well.
I decided that today would be my highcarb day for the week, because I knew I wanted to cook out with the kids. It also turned into a bit of a cheat day because we made strawberry shortcake too. Gave myself a mental break from counting for the day but stayed generally aware. It was so good. I made hamburgers and corn, we also had fresh watermelon and cantaloupe and some tomatoes. I accidentally picked up sugar free strawberry syrup for the shortcake. My body was not amused. Either that or the whipped cream. My body is kinda all what the heck did you put in me. Next time I want to do this, I will remember this moment.

What did you do for Labor Day?

Boom.

Boom.

And with that, I am 5 lbs away from the weight I graduated high school at. Which means I have lost 78lbs from my highest weight 5.5 years ago, 60lbs from my starting weight in January, and 55 since I did my first round of body spartan in march. I am also 15lbs lighter that when I got pregnant with my oldest 9 years ago.

Day 4!

Day 4…
It’s going a lot better… I finally hit a good state of ketosis earlier today. Had a great chest and tri workout this morning ( did 3 sets of chest presses with 2- 30lb weights for 12 reps) and then I came home and cleaned up some. I took the kids grocery shopping tonight and it went fairly smooth. At least as smooth as shopping with 3 kids can go. Had two amazingly awesome finds at the store!

The ice cream, half a serving has 3 carbs, and while I can’t give up those 3 carbs every day, it’s a nice treat that makes you feel like you aren’t restricted. The drink mix? Oh my gosh where has it been all my life? 10 calories and no carbs! Nipped the sweet craving I was having in the bud immediately. Tastes 100% like a jolly rancher. I’m finishing up the rest of my weeks meal prep right now. I’ve got some good variety going on and I’m happy. Just need to get the veggies going! Have a great night!

What’s your favorite low carb meal/treat?

Day 3…

Day 3…

Yesterday was day 3. I was reminded how important it is to eat on schedule the best you can. We got super busy at work and my meals got too spread out, which left me grumpy and then trying to squeeze the rest of my daily calories into a lot shorter period of time. I’m off today, so it should be easier to stay on track.
Lunch went well, nothing amazing, but I’ve only ever met one person who my first meeting with left me completely enamored and head over heels. I will never understand the whole concept of trying to convince someone to eat something so you don’t feel guilty. Yes one bite of chocolate cake will not hurt me , but then I have to move carbs and calories around that could be better spent elsewhere. If it was my high carb day would I have had the cake? Probably. Not the whole slice but a bite maybe two, but just because I’m choosing to not eat it doesn’t mean you can’t. I’m not going to make you feel guilty. Your goals are different than mine. It’s my choice to eat low carb for the next 11 and a half weeks, so I’m surely not going to make you suffer. I want the best possible results out of these 12 weeks so I will stick to it and continue to work my ass off to achieve.
Yesterday was my first time ever being able to do 30 straight minutes of Hiit cardio on the elliptical without stopping. I was super proud of myself. I started off with an hour of back and biceps. I felt really good about it. I’m feeling it in my back today, not in an injured way, but in a way I know I worked those muscles right. I think I need to increase my water today, I’m just feeling kinda bla and I know I didn’t take in as much as I normally do.
I have chest and tri up today. I’ve already sat down and written out a tentative plan so my ADHD doesn’t take over and I start working Lord knows what. Tomorrow will be shoulders and then I have two rest days. I’m hoping my body will reach full ketosis by Saturday so I can have a good high carb day before I am back on legs. Last time I hit ketosis so quickly, and I am kind of there but not quite. My carbs are dialed into a T, so I’m thinking it’s just taking longer since I have less fat to burn off. I know it can take some people 2 weeks of low carb to hit it. We shall see.

And then came the attitude…

It’s day 2. I had something written out. Then it got super rambly and nonsensical so I deleted it all. Welcome to day 2. Today was a cardio day, couldn’t get to the gym. Nailed my protein and carbs. Got my calories within 100(under) and my fats were about 5 over. I was a huge grumpy pain until dinner. The joys of not getting my way and getting back into the low carb groove. I hit the gym at 730 tomorrow for back and biceps. Moved shoulders to Thursday. Super excited for that day! Headed to bed because 6 am comes very early.
My kid is also a total smart ass, but I love him anyways.

Mae